Today, Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Representative Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced H.R. 5340, the so-called "Support Technology & Research for Our Nation's Growth and Economic Resilience (STRONGER) Patent Act." The bill ( here) is a carbon copy of the Senate Bill (save some cosmetic changes). On the Senate side, the Bill has existed in some form since 2015 but has languished. This is because its proposals would essentially legislate away the patentability trial mechanisms of America [...]

On 13th March 2018, the UK deposited the instrument of ratification of the Geneva Act (1999) of the Hague Agreement with WIPO, in Geneva, completing its final step toward joining the Hague Agreement for industrial designs. The Act will come into effect on 13th June 2018. The Decision to join the Hague system will allow applicants to register designs in the UK through an application filed with the International Bureau at WIPO. At present, applicants are only able [...]

The concept of the Producer under the current Bulgarian legislation includes several different understandings that tend to lead to practical difficulties arising with regards to determining the rights and obligations of the different types of Producers, as well as in the distribution of rights and obligations among the other participants in the process of creating and realising the different kinds of audiovisual work, and in the liability of the Producer to third parties. The [...]